


There is an Impostor

by ncities



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Blood, Character Death, Drama, Fluff, Human Impostor(s) (Among Us), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied dojae, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Violence, Murder, Oneshot, side JohnYong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:13:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27487858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncities/pseuds/ncities
Summary: “Welcome,” a voice boomed, “To The Skeld. Thank you all for choosing to participate in one of the very first space station launches led by ESEM Corp. We trust this will be a fun and memorable experience you all.”Memorable, it would be.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	There is an Impostor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Before you start, I know you read the tags but I just want to let you know again that this story contains a few graphic scenes, mentions of blood, suicide, and violence. It's also not factually accurate in a few areas for the sake of flow. If you are bothered by any of these feel free to click off! Thank you for your interest :)
> 
> Now, did I proofread this? Sort of.  
> Did I enter a fugue state while writing the last few pages? Yes.  
> Enjoy, dear reader!
> 
> **All rightful credits to innersloth studios and all creators of Among Us! Please support them by playing the game.**

A loud whirr and a jolt startled Taeyong when the elevator began to move. He peered out the tiny glass window at face height, watching his friends wave goodbye to him. Ten, Kun, Xiaojun. Hendery on facetime, unless he ended the call. Taeyong couldn’t see what was on Ten’s phone screen from this height. He took a deep breath in and turned around to face the thick metal doors, thinking about how they were built to withstand practically anything. That’s what the information pamphlet in the waiting room said, at least. He’d have to check for himself at some point.  
Part of him wanted to press the big blue button labelled “GO BACK,” but it was just for a few weeks, right? He’d see his friends and family again soon. Besides, he signed himself up for this. It was momentary anxiety.

Taeyong turned his hand to look at the code that had been stamped on its side moments before entering. N1C2T7 imprinted on the fleshy part by his pinky. It felt like the current from one of those prank buzzers kids used to shake hands with when they’d connected the machine with his skin. The code was supposed to take him to a room, one of three, where he’d meet other participants. The elevator stopped with another jolt, making Taeyong stumble forward into the doors and stand up straight right before they parted. A few heads turned to him as he stepped out. The room around him was small with a few chairs secured to the walls, ten, he counted. Most of them were filled already. Taeyong could see the same code printed on the others’ hands. Some of the hands were moving around a lot, jittery. Others were perfectly still, moving occasionally for a scratch or flick of the hair. No one was talking to each other aside from two boys who looked a bit younger than Taeyong, maybe 17 or 18. He stopped staring at the people and shifted his gaze to look for an empty seat. There were three, one in a small corner, one beside the chatty boys, and one between two men who were very focused on looking at the ground. Taeyong decided to take his chances between the two men. 

It wasn’t long before the next person came in. The man was attractive, about Taeyong’s age. He was scratching his hand where the code was. His eyes darted around the room the same way Taeyong’s had, eventually landing on the seat in the corner. The person beside him smiled politely as he sat down. The same amount of time later the last person entered. He, unlike the two before, flashed everyone a kind smile before taking his seat. Taeyong admired the small tattoos scattered around his arms, on full display because of the tank top he wore. Reading what it said, Taeyong stifled a snort. In thick capital letters on black fabric was printed, “I’M IN MIAMI, BITCH.” Cold metal walls, the smell of sweat that would only get worse from here, and ten strangers who didn’t seem like they’d be getting close any time soon. This was the furthest thing from Miami. 

Almost as soon as the last person sat down, a high pitched sound similar to microphone feedback rang through the room. Some people groaned, others covered their ears. 

“Welcome,” a voice boomed, “To The Skeld. Thank you all for choosing to participate in one of the very first space station launches led by ESEM Corp. We trust this will be a fun and memorable experience you all. Over the next two weeks you will live in space, cooperating with each other and fulfilling the needs of the space station. If you should need anything at any time, feel free to call upon us at mission control by pressing ‘119’ on your personal control pad which will be provided to you soon. We kept the number similar as on Earth so you won’t forget.” The voice chuckled. “You will soon be allowed into the aircraft and taken on a guided tour of all its facilities. Take off begins in one hour. If you should change your mind within that time, the doors will be open for you to leave at will. Don’t worry, we won’t be offended. Now, please choose a space suit from the trunk and get ready to have the trip of your life!” There was a crackle, followed by a click, then nothing. 

“Well I guess we should get at it,” someone said after a few seconds. The man to the right of Taeyong cleared his throat and stood up. His height was a shock at first, Taeyong hadn’t noticed on account of him slouching in his seat. Taking a few long steps to the trunk in the center of the room, the man reached in and pulled out a black suit. He leaned over to look at the rest of what was in the trunk and snickered, “You guys better grab the one you want fast.” Upon hearing that, the man with tattoos jumped up for his turn. His was exactly the same, only white. Others gathered around it, trying to reach in without hitting someone else. Red, yellow, green. The younger boys went up together, looking at the colours now available. One of them laughed and whispered something to the other, who slapped his arm. He reached in and pulled out a pink suit, sticking his tongue out at his friend. Finally the people in front of Taeyong cleared out and it was his turn. At the same time, a blonde man with dark roots peeking out approached the trunk. Taeyong pursed his lips into something of a smile and gestured for the other to go first. He thanked him and selected a yellow suit. Taeyong pulled out the last suit available. A bright lime green. He didn’t mind, he could make it work.  
When Taeyong had finished putting on his suit, a set of doors parallel to the entrance slid open. All the men filed in, their breathing uncomfortably loud through the suit microphones. Taeyong looked at the control pad they were promised. It was connected to the left sleeve of the suit. There was a tiny button of a megaphone, which he had to hit a few times before it responded to his touch. The clunky glove of the suit wasn’t helping. A slider popped up and Taeyong adjusted it to be just above halfway. 

Everyone walked in a cluster listening to the robotic tour guide’s voice that played through each of their suits. The aircraft was quite large, with a sizable cafeteria, medical bay, storage room, bedrooms, and more.  
“Now that we have completed the tour,” the robot went on, “Feel free to get settled in the aircraft, starting with your bedrooms. You will find that you have already been assigned a room and a utilities packet has been left on each of your beds. The oxygen is on, therefore you may take off your helmets. You will be notified when oxygen has been turned off, and may also check at any time on your control pad. You have twenty-nine minutes before take off.”  
Taeyong looked around, not used to how small his line of vision was through the helmet. He and a few others yanked them off. 

“Guess there’s no point in styling my hair during this thing,” the man in the black suit laughed. His dark hair was sticking up like he had just rubbed a balloon on it until he ruffled it with a gloved hand. “I’m Johnny.” He stuck his hand out, but he didn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular. The red suit came forward and shook his hand.

“Moon Taeil.” A few other voices piped up.

“I’m Mark,” Pink raised a hand.

“I go by Haechan,” said his purple friend.

“Yuta,” the white one said, shaking his head in an attempt to get his hair back to how it was.

“I’m Doyoung,” the man in the darker green suit said. 

“I’m Taeyong.” Those who had spoken looked at the others. It took a moment before Yellow exhaled and said, 

“Call me Winwin.” 

“Jungwoo,” Orange smiled. Finally, Blue announced that his name was Jaehyun. 

“It’s nice to meet everyone,” Mark appeared to smile. Taeyong couldn’t quite see past his helmet. 

“If you guys don’t mind, I’ll be going to my room. Looking forward to getting to know you better later,” Green- Doyoung said rather unconvincingly. 

To his surprise, Taeyong discovered that he had been paired with Doyoung for rooms- at least, “Lime” had been paired with “Green,” according to the sign outside. 

“Hi,” Taeyong mumbled. The man seemed like he was easily irritated, but he didn’t react in any notable way.

“Hey. Taeyong, right?”

“Yeah. Doyoung?”

“Mhm. Nice to meet you. Sorry for leaving so fast, I just woke up _way_ too early this morning.” Taeyong glanced at his control pad. 6:43pm. 

“It’s no problem.” Taeyong looked at the bed he could only assume was his, based on the lime green blanket. He wondered if there was some sort of psychological effect caused by lime that could make him lose sleep, because the colour was starting to look much too loud. He opened the ziploc bag that had been placed on his pillow and dumped the contents out onto the bed. A toothbrush, some bandaids, wet wipes, and other small items fell out.  
“I’m gonna grab a snack, wanna come with?”

“Cafeteria’s not functional before take off. They wanna minimize the chances of us puking on everything.”

“Vomit in zero gravity,” Taeyong scrunched his nose. “Guess I’ll stay here, then.” 

Taeyong spent the next few minutes shifting in bed. The mattress wasn’t exactly soft, but it was quite comfortable to lie on. His back had never felt so good. He must have fallen asleep at some point because he woke up to a blaring siren and the robotic voice from before counting down from thirty. It was so loud he almost didn’t notice Doyoung’s gentle hands trying to shake him awake. 

“We’ve gotta go, man! Almost time for take off.” Doyoung yanked Taeyong by the wrist and ran, the latter’s unzipped space suit hanging off his waist. Taeyong managed to bunch it up and grab it before they both tripped over each other. They both reached a room toward the front of the ship, Taeyong groggily remembered it from the tour. Everyone else was buckling in one of ten slanted seats. Taeyong guessed that was the proper position for not dying during lift off. 

“Get your suit done, Taehyung,” Johnny said before putting on his own black helmet. 

“Tae _yong_ ,” he corrected.” He put his suit on and took a deep breath before awkwardly getting into the seat. He could hear the others breathing through the microphones again but it was comforting to know they were there. Everyone was positioned looking up, so there wasn’t much chance of him seeing them until they were safe to move around again. This was it. They were leaving Earth. 

*

“Hello?” A muffled voice came through the microphones. There was too much whirring, rattling, clanging, you name it. Taeyong lifted his arms, but the pressure didn’t allow them to even twitch. He regretted not turning his volume up all the way beforehand, but he doubted it would have made a difference.  
“You guys doing well?” the voice asked. “I’m nervous.”

“Who is this?” someone different spoke. 

“It’s Taeil.” Taeyong felt like he could hear the man smiling as he spoke. 

“Oh, hi. I’m nervous too, but I’ve waited a long time for this.”

“Tell me about it…” Taeil trailed off.

“Yuta.”

“Yuta!” Taeil repeated. “I don’t know your voices well enough yet.” His next sentence was garbled.

“What?” a third person said.

“I said, especially not with this noise.”

“Ironic,” the third laughed or scoffed. Everything was hard to distinguish, even with Taeyong paying full attention. “Haechan speaking, by the way.”

“So, why did you guys sign up for this?” A fourth. 

“Are you kidding?” It was Taeil again. “The chance to go to space? And for free! Deal of a lifetime. I’m surprised they chose me. I mean, I did well on the tests, but some of the people there were insanely fit. I swear I saw this girl bench press like one-fifty.” A couple of “damn’s” came in from all around. 

“Maybe she’s in one of the other ships,” a fifth suggested. Taeyong knew this voice. It was the one he’d heard the most in his short time here. 

“I didn’t do great on the physicals, I couldn’t tell you why they picked me,” Doyoung said, his voice cutting in and out. 

“You must’ve done better than you thought. What about the psych eval?” Yet another new speaker. 

“They said I was stable. I guess that’s good.” 

“Is anyone else getting sleepy?” That sounded like Yuta. Now that he thought about it, Taeyong _was_ getting sleepy. Maybe it was because it felt like there were 50 weighted blankets on him. 60. 80. His body felt like it was being flattened. 

“I-” Taeyong started. Energy was seeping out of his body. This was nothing like the practice simulations. “I think I’m gonna die.”

“You can’t die,” someone said. Taeyong no longer cared to decipher whose voice it was. The voice was pained, clearly trying to push through. He started to reply, but was stopped by the sudden realization that the weight was gone. Completely gone. It was much quieter now too, only the soft hum of the engine doing its job. 

“Are we in heaven?” 

“Or hell.”

“Do you really have to ruin the mood right now?

“Just keeping our options open.”

“I think we stopped.”

“Did we stop?”

“I think so.”

“I can’t feel my body.”

“I still think we died.”

“Welcome to space.” The robotic voice had returned. It is now safe to remove your seatbelts. You will have five minutes, starting now, to explore in zero-gravity.”

Jungwoo was the first one out. Taeyong knew because he floated above him in his orange suit, doing slow backflips in the air. Taeyong grinned and undid his own buckles. Immediately, he started rising out of his seat. He felt like he was made out of Marshmallows. Next was Mark, who made his body as straight as possible and rose up like a bright pink pencil. He couldn’t hold the position for more than a few seconds, limbs spreading out in excitement. 

“You guys have to try this!”

Everyone complied, almost knocking heads when they floated up together. Johnny crossed his arms and legs as though he was leaning against a wall, but no part of the ship was touching his body at the moment. Winwin spread himself out like a star, looking like one even more so due to his yellow suit. Haechan giggled as he did somersaults into an unsuspecting Mark. His voice was distinct, not easy to forget. Doyoung was the only one hesitant to join, holding onto a bar on the wall of the ship. His green legs were above his head, but he was mostly focused on maintaining his grip. Taeyong guided himself to Doyoung, taking much longer than he would have liked. His body kept going in random directions, like the world's slowest pinball. 

“Doyoung?” he called when he was finally near. He slid his foot between the bar and the wall so his hands were free. He knew there was a private talk option on the control pad. He pressed the button that said “green” and spoke. “You can let go. It’s fun, you know. Just look at Red over there.” He pointed to Taeil posing like the Thinker, only upside down. Doyoung cautiously removed one hand to press something on his own control pad. 

“I’ll come. I’m just…” his eyes darted away. His pupils were a beautiful brown that blended in with the dark window of the helmets, Taeyong might have missed their movement if he wasn’t looking so intently. “I’m already motion sick, I don’t wanna risk anything.” Doyoung looked at him for a second before his eyes drifted down again. “Sorry, t-m-i.” 

“You’ll be fine. I’ll help you. Do you still need a minute?” Doyoung inhaled and held. He finally sighed, taking the hand that Taeyong had been holding out. The two let go and float upward, giggling. Taeyong wishes the helmets weren’t tinted. In the last two minutes, Haechan had figured out how to stay in one spot and was teaching Jungwoo. Mark was now the one holding on to a bar, probably after one too many mid-air cartwheels. Johnny was moonwalking, or trying to anyway. It wasn’t long before the robot voice advised them to grab hold of something sturdy because the artificial gravity was about to be “turned on” everyone clung to a bar or chair, ready for their bodies to drop. The descent was more gentle than Taeyong anticipated. Once everyone was on their feet, the voice tells them it’s safe to take their helmets off. 

“Is anyone else nauseous?” Mark asked. His hair was fluffy when freed. Taeyong wanted to tease him, but he felt the same way.

“It’s normal to feel dizzy for a few days after the flight,” Jungwoo chimed in. 

“It’s really getting to me,” Taeyong said. No one met him with a response. 

“Press my colour on the controls again,” Doyoung told him. Taeyong peered at him. Was he smiling? Stupid tinted windows. Taeyong pressed the button once more so that “green” was no longer illuminated. 

“It’s really getting to me,” he tried again.

“Tell me about it,” Winwin replied, clutching his stomach. 

“Maybe we should rest,” Taeil suggested. 

“You guys can. I wanna explore the ship more,” Johnny said. He took off before anyone could say anything. Everyone decided they wanted to do something different and split up. Taeyong could hear their microphones cut off when they were out of range and most people had their helmets off anyway, but just in case he pressed “green” on his controls again. “So, how about that trip to the cafeteria?”

*

“This tastes like nothing,” Doyoung said, chewing on pieces of dried fruit from a bag labeled “grapes.” “I have never eaten anything so bland, and once I ate an entire bowl of plain rice.”

“Why would you do that?” Taeyong gawked at him.

“Didn’t feel like cooking.”

“So order in?” Doyoung just shrugged. 

“I’d kill for a pizza right now.”

“I doubt they deliver this far,” Taeyong joked. He didn’t expect Doyoung to laugh, but he did, making Taeyong feel a bit better about his sense of humour.

A prolonged beep from their control pads interrupted their conversation. Taeyong squinted at the writing. It was some sort of list.

“Tasks,” Doyoung read out loud. “Empty chute… inspect samples… What is this stuff?”

“This is why they sent us here, isn’t it? To see if this thing,” Taeyong slapped the wall of the ship, “Can be maintained by a bunch of average humans.”

“If we have to do these tasks everyday I think I’d rather live on Earth. At least I could neglect my responsibilities there,” Doyoung pouted. His lips were deceivingly small, as Taeyong had learned from seeing his gigantic smile. Both were rather cute. He squinted at Doyoung’s list and made minimal effort to suppress a smile,

“We have some of the same ones,” he referred to the tasks. Doyoung double checked and nodded.

Walking back to their room, there weren’t many others to be seen out and about. It was late according to Earth time, not to mention they had all been on the most intense journey of their lives. Taeyong was surprised he was still standing, his body yet to regained a feeling of solidity.  
“I feel like I’m made of pudding,” he told Doyoung.

“I love pudding.” Doyoung sounded half asleep. When Taeyong looked over he saw that the other’s eyes were barely open. As soon as they were back in their room Doyoung flopped in his bed and was out cold. Lying in his own bed under that garish blanket, Taeyong hoped to fall asleep just as fast, but no such luck. The nap he’d taken earlier was a bad idea. He stared at the uninviting ceiling for what felt like hours before finally giving up. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and sat up to stretch. Doyoung looked so peaceful and comfortable in his tiny cot, dark green blanket pulled up over his nose.  
The cold floor sent a shiver through Taeyong when he touched it with his bare feet. He tiptoed slowly out of the room, though Doyoung didn’t seem like he’d be waking up any time soon. The lights of the ship were still on in the main areas. It seemed a lot bigger when he was walking alone. He couldn’t grasp the idea that there was nothing outside. No land. No trees. No birds. No air. He hadn’t expected to be selected for the trip and now that he was here, it was too good to be true. 

Taeyong almost screamed when he entered the cafeteria. A large black lump was seated on the table farthest from the entrance and closest to the vending machine.

“Jesus,” the lump said, pulling off its hood. Taeyong breathed a sigh of relief seeing Johnny’s rather grumpy face underneath. “No need to squeal.”

“You scared me.”

“Can’t sleep?” Taeyong shook his head. The vending machine had a strange array of options. Fruits, cereal, crackers, but then opaque tubes, entire meals freeze dried and put in tiny packets. His eyes glazed past the grapes and landed on a small packet of smushed together cheerios. They’d have to do. He looked at Johnny picking away at a pile of assorted nuts and headed for another table, but he was called back.  
“You can sit here, you know. I don’t bite.” Taeyong somehow doubted that. He sat across from Johnny, cautiously. He didn’t know what he was being wary of. “Do you need any help with that?” the man asked.

“I’ve got it,” Taeyong said. Johnny shrugged, but he rolled up his sleeves and kept his eyes on Taeyong. After struggling for a minute he finally sighed and handed it to Johnny.

“They're a little-” he pulled on the corners, the veins on his arms becoming visible, “-tough,” he grunted as the packet split open and the cheerios came flying out. 

“Thanks,” Taeyong said, reaching across the table to collect the pieces that went astray. The way they looked, he’d expected them to stick together like a rice krispie square. “So uh, are you liking it here so far?” 

“I’d sound pretty shitty if I said no, wouldn’t I? But yeah, I am. It’s crazy, I wouldn’t have expected to be here in a million years.”

“But here you are,” Taeyong smiled, popping a cheerio into his mouth. Johnny didn’t smile back, but he looked more relaxed than before. 

“I haven’t been able to eat anything other than nuts since we got here,” Johnny said after an uncomfortably long period of silence. The pile in front of him hadn’t grown much smaller since Taeyong’s arrival. 

“Something about zero gravity,” Taeyong mumbled. It didn’t take long for both of them to figure out the conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere. Taeyong pocketed his food and cleared his throat to let the other know he was heading off. When he was nearly at the exit, a hand touched his shoulder. It was gentle but cold, and certainly unexpected. Johnny’s footsteps had been so quiet, he could’ve followed him all the way back to his room and Taeyong wouldn’t have noticed. He turned around and the hand fell back down.

“Listen,” Johnny said. He looked just as tall when Taeyong was upright as when he was seated. “I know I come off a little cold, but I’ve just never been much of a talker. My mom suggested I sign up for this thing so I’d be forced to make friends.”

“Your mom? How old are you?” Taeyong bit his tongue. “If you don’t mind me asking,” he added. Johnny chuckled and motioned for Taeyong to walk alongside him.

“23. Tells you how lame I am, doesn’t it?”

“No, not at all. My sister actually introduced me to this project.”

“Ah,” Johnny nodded knowingly. “I see we’re in the same boat.”

“You know, I’m not the best talker, either. If you ever wanna eat snacks in silence again, let me know.”

“Maybe,” Johnny replied. He peeked inside the door they had stopped in front of, it was open just a crack. “Maybe not so silent next time,” he smiled and reached his hand out. There was a glint in his eye that caught Taeyong by surprise. It seemed to carry so much meaning, yet it was all foreign to him. After saying goodnight, Taeyong slipped through the crack in the door, keeping it as narrow as he could so light wouldn’t flood in and hit Doyoung’s eyes. He checked the sleeve of his suit for the time, it was well past 5am. Still, he couldn’t fall asleep. He hoped that the others would start waking up soon so they could at least start some tasks. Not that he’d be any help, running on 0 hours of sleep. It was a strange mission, he thought, to send handfuls of untrained people up to space to live on a ship that wasn’t even advanced enough to run without daily maintenance. Nonetheless, it was amazing that the technology was available for exactly that scenario. The tests he and the others had been through weren’t much harder than high school fitness evaluations or general question sheets they’d get at a doctors office. He thought about the people he’d met that day. There was nothing terribly remarkable about any of them, himself included. His thoughts were interrupted by a tap at the door. 

“Wakey wakey,” Mark mumbled, still half asleep. He was half-wrapped in his pink blanket, clutching it to his chest so it didn’t fall off. “Wake up calls...my task... today.” The poor boy couldn’t even get his words out yet. Taeyong glanced at the time again. 6:30. He decided it was a good time to leave bed again. 

“I can wake up the others if you wanna get some more rest,” he offered. The boy waved a limp arm through the air,

“Have to,” he yawned mid sentence, “input after.” Taeyong didn’t quite know what he meant, but he didn’t push. It’d give him a chance to get to the bathrooms before they were crowded anyway.

The day was rather boring. Everyone was focused on their tasks, all of them learning how to do them for the first time, equipped only with a vague sheet of instructions taped at each station. They varied, some took hours and some were done in a matter of minutes. By dinnertime most were too tired to talk. Taeyong’s lack of sleep was finally catching up to him, as proven by his face almost landing in a bowl of smushed together rice. 

“You good?” Taeil asked after moving the bowl. Unfortunately Taeyong’s face had still hit the table. He only grumbled in response. Taeil pulled Taeyong’s arm up and read the tasks that had been marked as completed. “What are these? I only know one of them."

“So annoying,” Taeyong said, still face down. He sat up and leaned back, almost falling off his stool. “Shit, I keep thinking these things have backs. I messed up so many times on that reactor thing, I almost just left it.”

“What if that led us to our doom?” Yuta, who was seated across from Taeyong, joked. 

“What happens, happens.” Taeil snorted at the answer. “Typical kid.”

“I don’t think I’m that much younger than you,” Taeyong objected

“You gonna eat the rest of that, or?” Yuta interjected. Taeyong pushed his rice to Yuta, who looked like all his life’s wishes had been granted. 

“Do you really like this stuff? There’s no taste,” Taeil complained.

“It just needs extra seasoning.” Yuta opened a packet of salt and sprinkled the entire thing over the rice before taking it with a spoonful of spam. The others at the table grimaced at the sight. Yuta shrugged before having another bite, “Desperate times.”

“At least he didn’t go for the ketchup.”

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Taeyong said as he watched Yuta’s eyes light up. He squeezed ketchup in a spiral over his rice as the others winced. 

“This,” Yuta engulfed another spoonful, “is fine cuisine.”

No one in the cafeteria seemed out of place anymore. The boys hadn’t had much problem getting friendly with each other. Even the quiet Winwin and Johnny were at a table by themselves. Given, they weren’t talking much, but they looked relaxed. Taeyong noticed a small pile of nuts in front of Johnny again. The man really hated containers. As he was about to look away, he saw Johnny reach his hand out for the other to shake.

*

It didn’t take a second for Taeyong to fall asleep once his body touched the mattress. He was woken up the next morning by his roommate frantically calling his name. Soon after he pulled the blanket off and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking violently. Taeyong’s eyes popped open as his head jerked backward into his pillow.

“Dude, what the hell-”

“You need to get up. _Now._ ” 

“You have to stop waking me up like this,” Taeyong laughed as Doyoung led him by the wrist. He didn’t get a response. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see others running to join them. “Doyoung, is something wrong? Did the ship malfunction?” Doyoung only shook his head. They slowed down as they approached the electrical room. Half the crew was already there, all looking down on something. Taeyong had to peek over Jungwoo’s shoulder to see what was going on. He stood frozen at the sight. The few that were behind him pushed through upon seeing his reaction, eyes widening and bodies freezing when they caught a glimpse. On the ground, a stark white jumpsuit lay covered in shockingly red blood. The body inside, unmoving. 

\---

“Get up,” Jaehyun said, kneeling beside the body. “This isn’t funny.” He looked around the room, desperate for someone to tell him he wasn’t really seeing what was in front of him. “Yuta, get up, _please._ ”

“Jaehyun,” Taeil put a hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off. Taeyong’s eyes darted from face to face, still not completely having a hold on the situation. A few had removed their helmets and tears could be seen streaming silently down their sweat-covered faces. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Winwin asked, voice raised. He rushed beside Jaehyun and reached cautiously for the body, his hand stopping inches before the helmet and resuming after a split second. He gently lifted the visor and clasped his hand over his mouth, closing it down again. “He’s gone.” His voice was rasped this time. 

“No.” Everyone turned to Haechan. “This doesn’t make sense. It had to be the task. It probably went wrong.” He looked from person to person, eyes brimming with water. “It was an accident, right?” he exclaimed. 

“We’re in electrical, Hyuck,” Mark said in a low voice. “I doubt any wires did that to him.” Taeyong noticed that Mark wasn’t looking directly at the body, and he didn’t blame him. It was a gruesome sight to say the least. The torn space suit was covering most of the wound, but stepping closer Taeyong could see bits of his undershirt and skin bared. His pale skin was littered with spots of blood. One long, thick incision ran from his belly button to the left. Taeyong couldn’t see where it ended behind the fabric.

“It looks like a stab wound,” Doyoung said. He had taken Jaehyun’s place beside Taeyong. “I’m in med,” he explained when some looks of confusion went around. “But not one. Maybe multiple. At least one was… dragged. His skin is way too torn for it to be just a jab.”

“What are the chances we have a doctor on board,” Johnny said. He hadn’t reacted much since Taeyong was dragged to the room. In fact he’d been standing in a back corner the whole time. Taeyong wondered if he was just as scared as the others under his detached facade. 

“I’m not one yet,” Doyoung corrected. 

“Shouldn’t we do something with his body?” Jungwoo asked. His voice was quivering. “We can’t just leave him here.”

“Where would we put him?” Winwin asked. 

“His room?” Mark suggested. The proposal made Jaehyun, Yuta’s roommate, gulp. “Oh, right,” Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m not thinking straight.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Taeyong tried to comfort him. 

“What about storage?” 

“He’s not an object,” someone argued. 

Voices had become more and more jumbled for Taeyong the longer he looked at the body. The smell had just hit him and he could only think about how it’d get worse. His mind was only filled with the image of Yuta at their cafeteria table last night. Not hours ago they’d been joking about his strange eating habits, and now… He didn’t know the guy all too well, but he’d been one of the friendliest in the group. He made an effort to talk to everyone before take off, Taeyong remembered. 

“Med bay,” someone piped up. “It makes the most sense, right.” Everyone mumbled something akin to agreement.

It was a group effort to transport the body. Four of them took the initiative of carrying him, holding him as gently as they could. 

“He’s so cold,” Mark whimpered when they had placed him on a bed in the bay. Taeil drew the curtain around it, saying it’d be best if they didn’t look at him too much. Everyone drudged to the cafeteria and slouched down on whatever seat was closest. Taeyong put his hands palm up on the table, staring blankly at the blood that had stained them. It felt surreal. No one spoke for the longest time. How would anyone know what to say in a situation like this? Finally, Jungwoo cleared his throat.

“It was one of us.”

“No-”

“You can’t deny it, Haechan. Who else could have done this? We’re the only ones here.” He was getting angrier with every word. The statement had a sobering effect on the crew. Backs straightened and people shifted in their seats, scared to be beside anyone. Eyes kept drifting back in direction of the med bay, though there was a thick wall between it and the cafeteria. 

“If it was one of you,” Jungwoo said cautiously, “Please just tell us why. If it was an accident, we can talk about it.” Taeyong saw Doyoung hang his head low out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t need to be in med school to know that the cuts he’d seen were no accident. 

“One of _us_?” Mark’s voice was high. “How do we know it’s not you?” Jungwoo opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it.

“I guess you don’t, but all I can do is try to tell you it wasn’t.”

“One one nine,” Taeil said. “They told us to press one one nine!” Immediately everyone began typing on their control pads. 

“It’s not doing anything.”

“Neither is mine.”

“Why would someone do this?” Haechan said, head sinking into his hands. “Why would one of you do this?” He was met with silence. Aside from Haechan and Mark, everyone was keeping their distance from each other. 

“We need to face it,” Jaehyun said, grimly. “There is an impostor among us.”

“There has to be an explanation,” Taeyong said quietly.

“Yeah, that someone here is fucking insane!” Haechan cried out. “How are we supposed to sleep knowing we could be next?”

“What if we partner up?” Johnny suggested.

“Wouldn’t one of the pairs include a murderer? Taeil pointed out.

“If another one of us winds up dead, at least we’ll know it was their partner.” Everyone looked at Johnny, speechless. “I’ll just shut up.” 

Jungwoo stood up from his seat, commanding everyone’s attention, 

“I think we should just stick with our roommates.”

“What about Jaehyun?” Doyoung looked over at him sympathetically. “You could join a pair, it’s up to you.” The man thought for a moment before nodding. Doyoung invited him to join himself and Taeyong. 

“Doyoung,” Taeyong leaned in and whispered. “Is it really a good idea asking the guy with a dead roommate to join us? For all we know, he could’ve done it.” Doyoung whispered back,

“Look at the poor guy, he’s a mess. If anything happens, there’s two of us and one of him.” His eyes were stern but genuine. All he wanted was to help. Taeyong reluctantly agreed, but he wasn’t sure about the last statement. Jaehyun, from what he’d seen before boarding, had more muscle than him and Doyoung combined. Maybe they’d have to rely on the element of surprise.

*

“Either of you want some chocolate?” Doyoung offered his new “partners.” The other two hadn’t spoken much since the group split up.

“No thanks,” Taeyong said.

“Sure,” Jaehyun accepted, his voice dry and strained. He was handed a piece of milk chocolate and a bag of water, which he took without looking up. Since getting back to their room, Jaehyun had been sitting on the floor with his back against a wall, staring out into the space in front of him with no accompanying expression. Taeyong wasn’t sure if he’d even blinked in this time.

“He’s just holding them,” he said to Doyoung. The other glanced at Jaehyun’s hands hanging by his sides. The food rested in his limp fingers.

“He found the body, you know. Not something you can get over easily.” Taeyong raised his brows and nodded. He was starting to lose suspicion against Jaehyun. No one was _that_ good at feigning emotions, right? He crawled to the foot of his bed, closer to but still a good few feet away from Jaehyun.

“Hey, Jaehyun?” Jaehyun turned his head slowly to look up at Taeyong with sad, reddened eyes. “Tell us about him.” 

“Why?”

“Humour me. Did you know him well?”

“No,” he answered after a few seconds. “No, I didn’t. But he was a good guy. You could tell. Talked a lot. Made me feel less nervous about being here.” He took a deep breath in through his nose. “He called me his friend. I figured he was exaggerating, but it was nice to hear.” He was getting more and more choked up. “He said he had a sister who was waiting for him. Told him to bring home souvenirs from space.” A tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek. “He was stuffing all his garbage and shit into his bag,” Jaehyun looked at the container of water in his hand. “Said he didn’t wanna disappoint her.”  
The room went silent. Taeyong didn’t look behind him, but he could hear Doyoung sniffling too. 

“We’ll find out who did this,” Doyoung whispered but the prominent silence in the room made it come through like a shout.

No one was heard throughout the ship, even with their bedroom door wide open. The buzz of the engine was eerie and seemed much louder than before. 

“How are we supposed to sleep without knowing if we’ll wake up the next morning?” Taeyong asked while pulling their door shut. He thought about leaving it unlocked, but decided against it. 

“Try your best?” Doyoung gestured to Jaehyun, who was passed out on his corner of the floor. It wasn’t technically night yet, but he had emotionally worn himself out over the last few hours. 

“Do you have any tasks to finish? We can go together.”

“What about him?” 

“He’ll be fine, right?” 

“We can’t risk that, Taeyong.”

“You’re right. Then which one of us is piggybacking him?” Doyoung smiled, revealing his upper gums,

“Don’t tell me you’re _that_ bored.”

“I wouldn’t call it boredom,” Taeyong frowned. “Sitting around feels wrong.”

“Doing something doesn’t mean you’ll be there to catch them in the act, Taeyong, it’s not your fault.”

“This time.”

“What?”

“I mean, what if I look away for a second and something happens to one of you? I can’t live with that.” Doyoung sighed heavily,

“Let’s go do something. You’ll see that you can leave us alone for a bit without anything happening.”

“You can’t risk Jaehyun to prove a point.”

“ _Taeyong_. If we keep moving in fear then there’s a greater chance of this happening again.” 

Taeyong reluctantly put on this space suit. They weren’t out of the room yet but he kept glancing at Jaehyun, just to check. It felt like a betrayal to leave him alone. Hopefully they’d be back before he woke up. Doyoung had been confident about leaving the room, but Taeyong knew he had locked the door from the outside when his back was turned. Each room had a numbered lock that the residents could decide. It wasn’t exactly high security, but it was something.  
The two decided to work on uploading data to Earth headquarters, one of Doyoung’s unfinished tasks. They were supposed to submit reports every other day to keep things on track.

“Is this of any use now?” Taeyong asked, exasperated. They’d been waiting twenty minutes and the status bar had barely moved from 18%. “This mission’s already been fucked up beyond belief.”

“If they get these files, maybe they’ll bring us down early.”

“At this rate?” Taeyong scowled at the status bar that was now at 18.4%.

After another half hour and 15% change, Taeyong insisted they give up and go back. They walked past a few open doors where the others also couldn’t sleep. Taeyong felt his face move in attempt of a smile, but he couldn’t tell if it actually came through. As they walked past Pink and Black’s room, Johnny rushed to his feet to meet them at the door, leaving Mark mid conversation. Doyoung seemed hesitant to say so, but he let Taeyong know they’d meet back in their room. It was only three doors down, Taeyong thought as he watched the green suit waddle off. 

“How’re you holding up?” Johnny asked him. He wasn’t in his suit but a black shirt and grey sweatpants. Taeyong wondered if all his clothes back home were black, he’d never seen Johnny in another colour. He certainly couldn’t imagine wearing lime green all the time. 

“As well as we can, I guess. You?” 

“Same. Mark's a bit in denial. He thinks that Yuta was the only target and the rest of us are safe.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Taeyong admitted. “It’s possible, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah, but do you wanna take that chance?”

Chances. All they could do now was take chances. Truth was, any number of them could end up dead by the time the ship landed. They’d have to find out who was responsible and make sure that there was no way for him to do it again. 

\---

Since the _second_ unfortunate discovery, the crew had been having daily check-ins twice a day- one in the morning before starting tasks, and one in the evening before returning back to their rooms. No one travelled without at least one other person, and so far it was a sufficient method of keeping them safe. The only problem was that daily tasks took twice as long. With no other bodies in the last two days, everyone was able to calm down to some extent. Every check in was still terrifying, especially if someone was late, but they had begun to trust their partners more. To some extent.  
Doyoung and Taeyong had gotten closer, sharing stories about their lives back on Earth. It was a comfort knowing they had something to go back to. Taeyong hadn’t imagined that four days in space would make him miss home so much, but then again time didn’t work the same here as it did on Earth. Whenever he looked out the round window of the ship at the little blue-green planet, he felt something settle in him. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. He didn’t know what it was.

“What’s up?”

Taeyong jumped at the sudden voice. It wasn’t Doyoung. A pink suit joined him at the window, staring out just as he had. Behind them their respective partners were chatting and cursing out the distributor that refused to calibrate.  
“Where’s Blue?”

“He went with Jungwoo and Taeil today,” Taeyong explained. Mark hadn’t looked away from the window. He lifted his visor,

“Do you miss it?”

“Of course.”

“There’s a check in today. From HQ. We can tell them and they’ll pull us out.”

“How’d you know?” 

“Give me your arm.” Taeyong extended his control pad to Mark, who pressed a few buttons and pointed out the announcement from headquarters. 

“I didn’t even know we had this page,” Taeyong chuckled.

“Haechan and I spent a lot of time playing with these the first day. There's a brick breaker game if you punch in two-seven-four-two-five.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Taeyong turned to the others to see if they were paying attention to them. He figured they weren’t, as Johnny was holding Doyoung back from slamming a fist into the generators. “Mark, Johnny told me that you thought Yuta was the only target. That the rest of us are safe.” Mark took a moment to respond. Taeyong squinted to try and see his expression, but with both their helmets on it wouldn’t do him much good. 

“It was just a theory. To make myself feel better.”

“But don’t you think you could be right? The rest of us are still alive. What if someone just had a vendetta against him?”

“But _why_ Yuta. He seemed great-”

“None of us know each other that well, Mark.” The pink helmet drooped forward as Mark hung his head. 

“You’re right.” A loud beep came from the distributor, followed by cheering from Green and Black. 

“Finally!” Doyoung hugged the machine. “Who’s next?”

“I’m done for the day,” Taeyong said.

“Me too,” Johnny nodded.

“I have one thing left,” Mark said, looking at his controls. “It says ‘submit scan.’ I haven’t done that before.

“It’s in the med bay,” Doyoung said quietly. “I’ll show you.” He put a hand around Mark’s shoulders and headed off, the other two following behind. 

“That’s a terrible colour combination,” Taeyong said to himself. He was surprised to hear Johnny laugh beside him.

Everyone slowed down their steps before entering the med bay. They held their breath while going in. It was completely silent until they reached the scanner at the far end of the room. Despite not seeing their faces, Taeyong knew everyone was looking at the bed with curtains drawn around it.

“So,” Doyoung broke the silence, “You’re supposed to get in and press this here,” he pointed to a small screen on the machine that was similar to their control pads. “Hold it long enough and a ring will show up around you. Don’t move _at all_ while it’s scanning or it’ll start over.”

“Got it,” Mark said as he stepped onto the circular platform. He pressed his hand against the screen, but nothing happened. The others watched him, wary. 

“Try taking your glove off, or pull it back so it’s tight.” Mark obeyed, and pressed the screen again. He leaned forward so there was more pressure, and they finally heard a beep. A holographic green ring appeared around the platform and rose up. Once it reached Mark’s waist, there was a blare through everyone’s microphones, causing helmets to be pulled off, but it didn’t minimize the sound that much. Even though Mark had removed his hand, the ring stayed, except it was now red and frantically flying up and down.

“You guys, what do I do?” Mark cried.

“Stay there! Doyoung said. He and Taeyong rushed closer to the machine, careful not to touch the ring, afraid of what would happen. Taeyong looked around the room, but nothing in there could solve the problem. Doyoung kept making circles around the platform, desperately trying to spot something that would stop the malfunctioning. Finally it occurred to him to pull the plug that was connected from the machine to the wall. As soon as it came out of the socket, the ring disappeared and the blaring stopped. 

“What the hell was that?” Purple and Yellow had come running, followed by a few other crewmates. 

“You heard it too?” Taeyong asked.

“Yeah,” Winwin scoffed, “I think it busted all our eardrums. Doyoung explained how the scan had gone wrong, prompting the others to come take a closer look at the machine. Mark was still standing in its center, frozen. Haechan hit a button on his controls and reached his hand out to Mark. Nothing had come from his microphone, but everyone heard Pink respond with,

“I’m fine.” He stepped down cautiously, one foot first and then the other when nothing happened. “What the hell _was_ that?”

“No idea,” said Doyoung, “It’s never happened to me while scanning.”

“Me neither,” Yellow said. He inspected the platform and the screen after plugging the scanner back in, but found nothing wrong. “This looks… normal.” 

“We should just go,” Taeil said from the doorway. “We’ll be called in for the meeting soon, anyway.” 

The nine crowded into the administration room, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen. Most were faced towards the three big screens in the room, all of which were off. 

“Are they gonna video call us or something?” Haechan asked

“You think they’d be more specific with the instructions,” Jungwoo sighed. He was playing around with a screen that took up the whole tabletop. “Hey…” he called out to no one in particular, “did you guys know we’re being tracked?” Immediately, everyone gathered around the table. On the screen was a map of the ship with a series of green dots clumped around the area labeled “ADMIN.” One green dot was alone in the med bay.

“They must be built into the suits,” Jaehyun said. “We never took his off.” 

“Crewmates.” Everyone turned to the screens. It was the robotic voice from before. “Here is your first annual bi-weekly report.” Red text popped up on the middle screen.

 _Ship status: GOOD  
Engine: RUNNING  
Reactors: UP TO DATE_

The list was long, but the last words stood out the most.

_Daily Tasks: BEHIND_

“Due to your tasks taking twice as long as expected, your time in _The Skeld_ is being extended to _four weeks_.”

“What?”

“No…”

“You can’t do that,” Doyoung stepped up. “You can’t keep us here longer than we signed up for.”

“You are behind on your tasks,” the voice repeated. 

“Is anyone listening?” Jaehyun cried, “A crew member died. He was killed!”

“You have to let us out,” Haechan cried.”

“You are behind on your tasks.”

“Are you serious? A person _died_ ,” Winwin exclaimed. He tapped on the screen as if it would do something. 

“Complaining won’t do anything, it’s a stupid robot,” Johnny said. Sensing the word “complaining,” the voice chimed,

“What is your complaint regarding?” When no one responded for a while, it repeated the question. Doyoung was the first to make out what was happening.

“Someone died! A crewmate died!” he spoke loudly to make sure the machine would hear him. The left screen blinked on and a number of options popped up. Doyoung read them out loud, “Medical emergency, injured crewmate… no, it’s not any of these.” 

“I do not understand,” the voice said.

“Not. Any. Of. These,” Doyoung enunciated each word. “We have a dead crewmate.”

“Sorry, I am not equipped to answer this. Please contact headquarters.”

“I thought you were headquarters!” Haechan yelled at the machine. 

“Ok,” Doyoung said softly. “Contact headquarters.” The machine didn’t respond. “Contact headquarters. Call headquarters!” Nothing.

“This is the most useless fucking system I’ve seen my life,” Jungwoo grumbled. “How are we supposed to call headquarters?”

“Check your controls,” Taeyong suggested while swiping through his own. Everyone came up empty. 

“How is it possible that there’s no way for us to reach out when we need help?” Haechan said, taking a seat. “And now we have two extra weeks. We’re gonna die.”

“Don’t say that, Haechan, things have been going fine, right?” Mark looked at everyone but didn’t wait long enough for assurance. “Maybe it was just Yuta.”

“In that case, why would it be _just_ Yuta?” Jaehyun questioned. “Which one of you hated him so much that you had to kill him?” No one spoke.

“Guys, we partnered up. Everyone else is still alive,” Taeil said. Anything sounded like comfort at this point.

“What if it doesn’t last?” Jaehyun groaned. 

“Don’t encourage him!” Winwin glowered. “Don’t encourage the killer.”

Taeyong felt like all the confidence he’d regained in his crewmates had drained out of him in the last minute. It’s true, one of them was a murderer, but he had been trying to ignore that. He knew it wasn’t that easy.

*

That night Taeyong had trouble sleeping again. This time, Doyoung did too. Jaehyun had decided to sleep in his own room, despite the others warning him not to.

“I know I say this a lot,” Doyoung said from across the room, “But this is insane.”

“I don’t think you do. But you’re right.”

“Come here,” Doyoung patted the spot on his bed beside him. “I don’t like yelling across the room. Taeyong chuckled, but obliged. There was maybe six feet of space between them. He hopped on Doyoung’s bed and sat in the same position a few inches next to him, back against the wall, feet hanging over the other side.  
“I wanna go home.”

“Me too,” Taeyong sighed.

“What a story we’ll be able to tell, huh? Not only did we go to space, one of our crewmates was killed. And we found the one who did it. And we stopped him.”

“You’re good at positive thinking.”

“Not really,” Doyoung shook his head, “It’s just a necessity at the moment.”

“Then you’re good at doing what’s necessary.”

“Yeah,” Doyoung whispered. He looked bleak and paler than usual.

“Hey,” Taeyong put his hand over Doyoung’s, “Don’t stress out so much. I’ll protect you.” Doyoung chuckled and looked at him, his gummy smile on full display,

“You’ll protect me? Okay. Then I’m safe.”

“I’m serious!” Taeyong insisted. “I know it’s only been a few days, but we’re friends, right? I have your back.”

“I have yours too, _friend_.” Doyoung flipped his hand so his palm was touching Taeyong’s and intertwined their fingers together. Taeyong forgot how to breath until Doyoung let go again. “Are you tired?” He shook his head. “You’re lying. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Frickin’ med students.”

“It’s not that,” Doyoung laughed, “It’s obvious. Your face looks dry, your eyes are reddening.” He lifted a cupped hand slowly to Taeyong’s face, stopping it an inch before it touched skin. Something occurred to him and he set it back down. “If you wanna sleep, I’ll keep watch.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not a problem, Yong. You can do the same for me after.”

“Fine,” Taeyong gave in. Doyoung was much too accurate. Maybe it’d be easier to sleep while knowing Doyoung was up. They’d locked the door too. Instead of returning to his own bed, he let his head fall onto Doyoung’s shoulder. He felt the other seize up, look at him, and relax again. He was warm. The warmest thing in the vessel.

Taeyong woke up to someone banging on their door. He felt Doyoung’s head against his own and assumed he’d fallen asleep too. He slid away gently so Doyoung didn’t fall over and opened the door.

“Please don’t tell me there’s another dead person.”

“No,” Taeil sighed in relief. “You guys didn’t show up to the check-in. We were worried!” He frowned and pulled the corners of his mouth down for emphasis. 

“Check-in… what time is it?”

“Seven,” Taeil checked.

“Seven?” Taeyong turned to Doyoung, who had fallen sideways despite his efforts. Both of them must have been quite tired. 

“We’ll be out soon.”

A breath of relief fell across the room when the two finally entered the cafeteria. No one said a word, but the sound of chewing broke the nerve-wracking silence. An unspoken agreement had been formed that everyone would sit two to a table, or three if Jaehyun was joining them. Taeyong didn’t know if it was out of fear or convenience. He and Doyoung seated themselves at the only empty table. 

“I feel like we fucked up by waking up late,” Doyoung whispered.

“They had a right to be worried,” Taeyong whispered back.

“Should we apologize?” Taeyong looked around, everyone was highly invested in their food.

“I think they understand.” Doyoung nodded, then crossed his brows when noticing what Taeyong’s “breakfast” was for the first time. He sighed and ripped his sandwich in half, offering one half to Taeyong,

“That’s not enough.”

“It’s very filling.”

“It’s four granola bars!”

“With chocolate chips!” Taeyong argued. Doyoung sighed again, purposely harder this time.

“Let’s trade, then. You give me two granola bars and take half my sandwich. Then we’ll be matching.” 

“I’m only accepting this offer because you’re cute,” Taeyong smirked. Doyoung looked taken back but made no comment, only pushed half the sandwich forward again. From the table beside them, Johnny scoffed. Mark had a big grin on his face, like he was bursting to say something. 

“Are you guys-”

“Mark.” Johnny said sternly. The boy shrank into his seat. He took a nut from Johnny’s pile and flicked it at his head. Johnny didn’t flinch when it hit him, but he threw one back at the boy. Taeyong leaned in close to Doyoung and took a bite out of the sandwich. He still hadn’t adjusted to the lack of taste. 

“It’s not weird to call your friends _cute_ , is it?” Doyoung didn’t respond. “Doyoung? I was just kidding-”

“No, it’s not that,” he cut Taeyong off. “Where’s Purple? I mean Haechan. His partner is sitting alone.” Looking behind him, Taeyong saw that it was true. Doyoung asked Mark the same question. 

“He was there a minute ago.” Soon the whole cafeteria was informed and everyone was ambushing Yellow with questions. 

“Guys, relax! He just went to the washroom, I can see it from here.”

“When did he leave?”

“I don’t know, couple minutes ago.”

“You should’ve gone with him!” Mark looked frantic. 

“I can see him from _here_ ,” Winwin stressed, “I’ve been looking up every few seconds.”

“I should go check on him,” Mark said, already walking toward the washrooms. An arm blocked his path.

“I’ll go,” Johnny said. 

“No, Johnny, I can-”

“I don’t want you…” Johnny didn’t know how to phrase the sentence. He whispered to the person closest to him, Taeil, and whispered something. Mark hadn’t seemed to have heard, but Taeyong did from where he was standing.  
“I don’t want him to be the one discovering a body.”

“It’s probably fine,” Taeil said in a hushed tone, “But I get your point.”

“What are you guys whispering about?” Mark said, impatient. 

“Let Johnny go. We’ll wait here.” Mark began to argue, but Johnny had already left. Everyone else watched facing the washrooms, unblinking. A few seconds later, Mark shook himself free of Taeil’s grasp to run to the doors, where Black had walked out pushing a very irritated Purple. 

“Can't even take a piss in peace,” Haechan mumbled as Mark pulled him into a quick hug. 

“Don’t fucking scare me like that.”

Once they had done three more headcounts, just in case, partners went off to do their tasks. Hours passed before Doyoung and Taeyong happened upon anyone else again. They had been stuck working on the reactor the whole time, a task that unfortunately neither of them had done before. It took Taeyong almost bursting the whole thing open for them to call another group for help. Jaehyun, paired with Haechan and Winwin for the day, was the first to respond. 

“Where are the others?” Doyoung asked when he walked in alone. 

“Said they’d meet after Win finished with the wiring.”

“Win?” Doyoung raised a brow. “Didn’t know you were close like that.”

“Jealous, Kim?” Jaehyun teased. “Now let’s see here,” he reached for the tools that Taeyong was holding cluelessly. 

“I think we finished the majority of the task,” Taeyong said, dropping them into Jaehyun’s hands. He had rolled his blue sleeves up past his elbows for mobility. “That can’t be safe,” Taeyong grumbled to Doyoung when he caught him staring for just a bit too long. Up until now, he hadn’t realized that he never learned Doyoung’s surname. It was his fault for not asking, but it hadn’t occurred to him till now. “When did you guys talk?”

“How do you know if we talked?” Doyoung asked, directing his attention to Taeyong again. 

“He knows your last name.”

“It could be my first name,” Doyoung said. “Like Kim Kardiashian.” Taeyong couldn’t help a smile from appearing on his lips. Bad humour was his weakness, or at least Doyoung’s brand of it.

“The question still stands.”

“The night he stayed with us, after we came back. I woke up in the middle of the night and he was finally eating the chocolate. I walked him to the cafeteria so he could get some real food.”

“You and real food,” Taeyong rolled his eyes.

“He said he appreciated you asking about Yuta. It calmed him down.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I forgot.”

“Are you guys talking about me or something?” Jaehyun called out. He rolled his sleeves back down and clasped them to his gloves. 

“Yes,” Taeyong snapped. Jaehyun smiled at him, unbothered. Taeyong didn’t think he’d seen the man smile until now. He wished he could find something unpleasant about it, but it was impossible. Even in that ridiculous, oversized-blueberry of a helmet, he looked stunning. He had recovered well from the shock of finding White that day- at least he presented himself that way.

“Shouldn’t the others be here by now?” Doyoung asked.

“Yeah,” Jaehyun glanced at the entrance. “I’ll call them.” He pressed their colours and Taeyong could see his lips moving, but he didn’t appear to be getting an answer. Finally, they all heard a crackle in their helmets. 

“Guys?” Winwin’s voice came through. He sounded like he was choking up.

“What’s wrong, Win?”

“Purple’s gone again. He said he was going to the washroom again and I let him because the wiring was getting on my nerves and that was maybe ten minutes ago and I’ve been looking for him but-”

“Winwin, where are you?” Doyoung said. “We’ll come to you.”

The boxes in storage were flung about the room when the three reached Winwin. His breathing came heavy through the mics, loud and fast and panicked. Taeyong turned his volume down a bit more, for concentration, as he told himself. 

“You’re not gonna find him in the boxes,” Jaehyun said to Winwin.

“Fuck you, I might!” Winwin shrieked. He dropped the box he was holding and pulled off his helmet, taking a deep breath. Taeyong hadn’t seen him so emotional until now. “I’m sorry. I just… I can’t believe I let him go again. I’m so stupid. I’m so _stupid_.

“It’s fine, Winwin, for all we know he got distracted by the brick breaker game,” Doyoung put a hand softly on his arm. 

“No.”

Taeyong looked around. So did the others. None of them had said it.

“No!” Someone screamed from another room. It must’ve been close because it echoed through the helmets, everyone muting their audios as fast as they could to save their eardrums. 

“Let me go!”  
The four barely made eye contact before simultaneously rushing to the doorway, crashing into each other as they squeezed out. They didn’t have to take more than a step out the door to see Black holding someone tight in his arms. Pink limbs thrashed about as Mark tried to escape his grasp, relentlessly screaming for him to let go. Taeyong wondered if he should prepare to fight Johnny off, but getting closer, he realized that Johnny wasn’t hurting anyone. He was trying to protect Mark. He was trying to hold him back from seeing something that would ruin him. Winwin’s mouth gaped and he fell to his knees, his helmet leaving his grasp and rolling to the side. Jaehyun, who’d been perfectly calm minutes ago, couldn’t even face the scene. Taeyong felt Doyoung’s hand grab his own tighter than it had ever been held before. 

“No…” Doyoung whispered. Pink was still crying and flailing, but his movements had become significantly weaker. He could only hit Johnny’s arms, but his punches had no more force. Taeyong could see that if Johnny were to let go, Mark probably wouldn’t be able to stand by himself. Everyone else had gathered at this point. There was more anger than shock this time, muttered curses from every mouth. Doyoung approached slowly and tipped the visor up, squeezing his eyes shut for a second before bringing it back down. Perhaps he couldn’t look him in the eyes, but Taeyong didn’t imagine he wanted to. 

“We should take him to the bay,” Taeil said, throat dry. Some nodded and stepped forward, but they were stopped by Mark’s quiet pleas.

“Just let me see him. Let me say goodbye.” Johnny reluctantly let go of him. Mark didn’t fall, but he didn’t move for a few painstakingly long seconds. Finally he sat down, cross legged on the floor. He took off the purple glove and held one hand with both of his.  
“I didn’t think this would happen to you,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry.” He brought the hand to his face and kissed it, wiping off the spots where his tears had left glistening marks.  
He stayed behind after everyone had left the room. Head hung low and eyes fixated on the spot where Purple had lain. Taeyong couldn’t remember if that morning was real. Mark had been smiling. Joking. He’d hugged Haechan. Haechan had hugged him back. Half those things would never happen again. 

“Mark?” Taeyong said softly. “Wanna come to the cafeteria?” Mark shook his head. “We can’t leave you alone. We can’t leave anyone alone now. Receiving no response, Taeyong helped Mark up. He didn’t resist but his body was limp with no motivation whatsoever to move. Taeyong wanted to leave him be for a moment, or as long as he needed, but there was no way anyone would let the others out of their sight now. They’d travel all together if necessary. And now more than ever, it was.

*

They’d split into two groups, four people each. Johnny had dragged his and Mark’s beds into Lime and Green’s room. In the room right next to them were Winwin, Jaehyun, Taeil, and Jungwoo. Jaehyun hadn’t said a word in the time after seeing Haechan. Last Taeyong saw of him, he was being comforted by Jungwoo. Taeil had been quiet too. From what Taeyong had seen before, he and the kid had gotten along well. When they had left the other four, Blue, Red, and Orange were trying desperately to tell Yellow that it wasn’t his fault. He’d been soaked in tears already, but after Mark had given him a seething glare, he’d been even more inconsolable.

Johnny and Doyoung had brought the others trays of food and new bags of water. Mark’s was set down beside him minutes ago and it still lay untouched. The three were giving the boy his space but keeping careful eyes on him. 

“Mark?”

No response.

“Please drink some water.” Doyoung’s voice was calming, Taeyong thought. He hoped it was enough to convince Mark. His lips were dry and his eyes were swollen, he had become so sickly in barely an hour’s time. The boy felt around until his hand hit the water bag. He drank for a long time, not taking a breath until his mouth left the spout. He threw the nearly empty sack onto the ground and it landed with a plop. Mark stood up, and the other three did the same.

“Where are you going?” Johnny was beside him in a flash. 

“That bastard-”

“It’s not his fault, Mark.”

“How can you say that?” Mark snapped. “ _He_ let him go off alone, _he_ was his partner, _he_ was supposed to protect him!”

“It was a mistake-”

“This isn’t a mistake! He could’ve killed him and pretended that he’d wandered off!”

“Mark, you’re making assumptions.”

“Fuck if I care!” Mark headed for the door, but Johnny was quicker. 

“You’re not leaving this room. Definitely not without one of us.” Mark was angry, but he was too weak to argue. He sat on the corner of his bed and stared into the floor so intensely that Taeyong thought it would melt. Doyoung excused himself to go sit beside him on the other end of the bed. Mark acknowledged him with a glance, and that was the last thing he did before falling asleep. Johnny, now seated beside Taeyong, whispered to him, “They’re always so stubborn before passing out.”

“What?”

“I thought he’d try to fight me by the door there. But I could tell he was tired. I can’t imagine what he’s going through, emotionally.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong nodded, looking at Mark tossing in his sleep. “Jaehyun too. He had just gotten back to normal.

“Normal for that guy…” Johnny chuckled. “It really humbles you.”

“Yeah. He’s something. I hope he’s ok.” Taeyong spoke monotonously.

“Do you?”

“What?” Taeyong asked again. Johnny had an odd way of phrasing things. 

“Why do you think this is happening?” Johnny asked.

“How can you describe something like this? I just hope the rest of us get home safe. I’m too scared to leave the room, honestly.”

“You don’t think it’s one of us?” 

“I…” Taeyong looked at each of the others in the room. “I don’t wanna think about that.” He didn’t think he had to. He knew Doyoung was with him almost all hours of the day and Johnny was with Mark. Then again, the crewmates had just barely crossed the line from stranger to friend. There were times that he didn’t have eyes on Doyoung, like the time he’d gone off with Jaehyun. He didn’t think Mark would hurt his best friend, but he had no idea where the kid and Johnny were before they’d all heard the scream. Same goes to say for everyone else. _Everyone_ else. Taeyong was getting a headache thinking of everything that could go wrong. Everything that _had_ gone wrong. 

“Should we take shifts staying awake?” Doyoung looked at Mark closely before getting up. “Two by two?”

“You know how well that went last time,” Taeyong leaned back on his elbows.

“Apparently there’s more at stake now. Johnny, if you’re tired you can sleep,” Doyoung offered.

“I don’t think I can right now, rough night y’know. One of you go ahead,” he looked straight into Doyoung’s eyes. Doyoung, unable to hold the gaze, looked at Taeyong for a lifeline. 

“I’m not sleepy either, Doyoung, you get some rest.” Somehow Taeyong got the impression that that wasn’t what Doyoung had wanted to hear. Nonetheless he agreed to sleep, wrapping himself up in his green blanket from head to toe. 

“Can he breathe like that?” Johnny asked, trying to see if Doyoung’s face was visible. 

“It’s been proven so.”

Doyoung’s light snoring could be heard minutes later, coming and going depending on how he was lying down. Taeyong could hear chatter from the next room too, two voices at least. They’d probably had the same idea.

“There’s another check-in tomorrow from Earth. God, I miss Earth.”

“They’ll just pull the same shit as last time. Sorry, I am not equipped to answer this!” he mocked the machine’s words. “What if we just don’t do any of the tasks? Maybe they’ll pull us out as a failed mission or whatever.”

“Worth a shot,” Johnny said. “Or we’ll get two more weeks added.” 

A few hours passed like they were nothing. Doyoung mumbled something in his sleep and turned around for the twentieth time. Mark had stopped tossing but his eyebrows refused to uncross. Taeyong and Johnny had gotten a deck of cards from storage, a room of wonders, and were playing endless rounds of go fish.

“Taeyong, I can only go fish so many times,” Johnny said in a voice lower than usual. “Now, do you have a goddamn five?” Taeyong could barely hold back his laughter while looking at his cards. 

“Go fish.”

“This is the worst,” Johnny groaned while picking up another card from the deck. After one of them finally won that round, he insisted that they put an end to their game.  
“Taeyong?” Johnny said while fiddling with the cards. He shuffled them quickly, his large hands covering the cards completely. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure,” Taeyong said, watching the flashes of red, white, and black.

“I was just gonna let this go but with the way things are going,” he gazed up at Taeyong, still shuffling, “I think I’d regret staying quiet.”

“Go on.”

Johnny slipped the cards back into their box and set it between them. There was a look in his eyes that was unfamiliar to Taeyong. For a split second he felt like he was staring a wild animal down but within a blink that feeling was gone. Taeyong thought that it must’ve been a trick of the light, the incredibly dim light, because now Johnny’s eyes were full of warmth and something that… beckoned him.

“I think I like you, Taeyong. You don’t have to feel the same way, I just wanted you to know. I’m practically a stranger and with everything that’s going on, I don’t expect anything from you.” Taeyong was dumbstruck. He felt overwhelmed to begin with, to determine where the feelings ended was the difficult part. Johnny looked like the whole package from the outside, and the promise of uncertain death wasn’t a bad motivator, yet when Taeyong saw Doyoung from the corner of his eye he just couldn’t bring himself to reciprocate the feelings. Doyoung was uncertain, a guess at best, but Taeyong knew he felt something. “Something” could be determined later, he hoped.  
“I understand,” Johnny said before Taeyong had a chance to respond. 

“No, Johnny-”

“Don’t worry,” Johnny smiled. The smile made Taeyong want to believe there was really nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. “I told you, you don’t have to feel the same way,” he looked at Doyoung, “I’ll have your back no matter what.”

“I don’t know what to say. You’re too sweet.” Taeyong went to hug Johnny, his hand hitting the deck of cards and sending it flying to the floor. Doyoung sat up faster than Taeyong could blink, still faced away from them. The first place he looked was at Mark, then at the time. He sat so his feet touched the floor and blinked again and again. 

“You guys should sleep now,” Doyoung said. His vocal chords weren't fully cooperative yet. He waddled over to Mark, still wrapped in his blanket, and shook him awake. It wasn’t as peaceful for the boy, who yelped at the unexpected hand on him. Once he realized it was Doyoung, he grasped him in a hug and buried his face in his shirt.

Johnny hastily said goodnight and moved to his own bed, pulling up his black blanket and facing the wall. Taeyong couldn’t make much sense of what had happened. Something about the late hour. The vulnerability that loomed over all of them. Nothing felt real. He lay down, looking up at the screws on the metal plates of the ceiling. Perhaps he’d wake up and find that he’d been dreaming all this time. 

\---

No one ate breakfast that morning. Rather, they headed straight to admin and waited. Waited for so long. Taeil was pressing 1-1-9 on his keypad in five second intervals, each hit stronger than the last.

“Does nothing on this fucking ship work?” he said, slamming the side of his fist onto the table. “What’s the point of an emergency number if it doesn’t work.

“Stop it, Taeil, you’ve been doing this every day.” Jungwoo sighed.

“The lights have been flickering lately,” Mark said quietly. He hadn’t made eye contact with anyone since last night. Jungwoo checked his control pad,

“I have wires today. Might as well get it done while we’re here.”

“Me too, but up in navigation,” Johnny said.

“Leave it,” Doyoung shook his head, “We said we’d all stay together.” Johnny nodded but he wasn’t able to sit still for long. He joined Jungwoo at the electrical panel to help. 

“Crewmates.”

“Finally!” Taeil jumped up.

“Here is your second annual bi-weekly report.” The machine displayed the same various categories of last time, most of which were followed by “POOR.” “Your overall status is concerning. Please describe the reason for your performance.” Taeil and Doyoung leaned over the screen, reading the various options they had given.

“I guess the closest one here is ‘crewmate health’?” said Taeil. He pressed the letters on the screen and it directed to another list of options. 

“There,” Doyoung pointed to the very bottom. “Life threatening.”

“Imagine if they had an option for ‘homicidal crewmate,’” Johnny said. Taeyong looked around for reaction, but no one so much as turned to him. Taeyong clicked the black button on his controls and said,

“Maybe they’ll have to add one now. Or get rid of future missions altogether.”

“What are the odds of this happening again?”

“None, I hope. They need to amp up the standards on the psych eval.”

“You know, Yongie, if we make it back alive we’ll be part of a huge fucking story. Maybe we’ll be in the news.”

“ _If_ ,” Taeyong stressed. He decided to blow past the new nickname. “That’s what you’re thinking of?”

“I have to pretend there’s something to look forward to.”

“Please wait to be connected to an HQ representative,” the robot said. Everyone stood up. This is all they had wanted.

“We could actually get out of here,” Jaehyun whispered. There was barely any breathing as they waited for someone to answer their call. A staticky noise came through, followed by some garbled noises.

“Hello?” 

“Hello!” Everyone yelled at once. 

“Get us out of here!”

“We need to go back!”

“We can’t stay here!”

“Please!” The person on the other side exclaimed. “One at a time!” Doyoung indicated that he would speak and the others loosened up. “Now, what seems to be the problem?”

“We have to go back to Earth,” Doyoung spoke as calmly as he could.

“What is the reason for this request?”

“Someone has been killing people on our crew.” The other end was silent. Taeyong could hear what sounded like papers being flipped through, rather aggressively.

“Is this a prank call? This isn’t funny.”

“No, it’s not.” Doyoung was good at being stern. 

“Why didn’t you call the emergency number?”

“Yes we f- yes we did. Red has been trying to contact you every day.”

“Give me a minute.” Sounds of rapid clicking, typing, could be heard. “Your emergency response system has been tampered with. Please try again now.” Taeil punched in the numbers and a ringing was heard through the line. “It’s fixed.”

“Great,” Taeil said, expressionless. “Now bring us down.”

“I can’t do that, not immediately. Even if you’re telling the truth-”

“Why would we be lying?” Mark screeched at the screen. “Two of us are _dead_! My best friend is dead,” his voice broke. A few more clicks were heard. 

“The two in med bay…”

“That’s them,” Doyoung said. 

“It’s going to take us three days, including today, to bring you back.”

“That’s too long,” Winwin cried out.

“That’s the least amount of time we can offer. We were not prepared for a situation like this, especially with you as one of our first groups ever.”

“And if you lose more of us within those three days?” Mark sneered. Taeyong was almost scared. The person on the line was struck with silence again. “Will you take responsibility for this? How are you gonna explain this to their families?”

“If your crewmates were killed as you say, it means that ESEM Corp and its machinery have no responsibility regarding the matter.”

“Fuck you!” Mark lunged at the screen, “Fuck you and your company!”

“We will notify you when systems are ready for the return trip.”

“I’ll fucking destroy you!”

“Mark,” Doyoung tried to calm him down but he kept cursing at the screen. Eventually Johnny pulled him away. After thrashing for a few seconds, Mark gave in. He turned so that his face was buried in Johnny’s chest and he sobbed. It was different from his crying before, he practically shook between every breath. Johnny was clearly shocked, but he softened his grip to a hug, awkwardly patting Mark on the back. The call disconnected and a deafening silence filled the room. 

“Three days.”

“ _Three_ days.”

“I’m not gonna make it.” Mark looked devastated. His shoulders drooped so low Taeyong would’ve thought there were weights attached to his suit. “I’m not gonna make it,” he said again. His voice was barely audible. They’d all lost White and Purple, but Mark was the only one with a true connection to either.

“We can do it,” Doyoung tried to keep spirits up but he clearly doubted his own words. “There’s seven of us and one of him.”

“As if the one would admit anything,” Jungwoo mumbled.

“We’ll find him,” Taeil said. “If anyone’s away from their group, we’ll know. Whoever it is, he won’t get another chance.” Taeyong couldn't help but think about how many times they had made that promise.

*

The two groups had decided to continue doing their daily tasks, as a distraction if nothing else. Taeyong’s group was near silent. They were currently working on inspecting samples since two of them had it on their lists.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for,” Mark said, nearly slamming a test tube back into its container.

“Careful,” Johnny said in a gentle voice, “Those are fragile. They're supposed to turn green and if they’re not, you throw it out.”

“Out where?” Mark grumbled. Doyoung and Taeyong were off to the side, waiting with their helmets off. They had seemed to get stuffier each day.

“How’d you sleep?” Doyoung asked. Taeyong realized they hadn’t gotten a chance to speak all morning, despite being in the same room for the better part of it.

“Pretty good, considering. Hope you’re not too tired.”

“Nah, Mark and I had a nice talk. Or, he had a nice talk and I had a nice listen. Poor kid misses his friend like hell.”

“I can’t imagine,” Taeyong said.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost the person I’m closest to on this ship. On this planet.”

“You mean _that_ planet,” Taeyong joked. Doyoung looked at his feet as if he was expecting to see himself standing on the blue and green swirls of Earth. 

“Who would that person be?”

“Who would it be for you?”

“I asked first,” Doyoung argued. Taeyong sighed, accepting defeat.

“Maybe my friend Ten. He knows a lot about me, we’ve known each other since grade school. Your turn.” Doyoung pressed his lips together so they disappeared for a moment.

“I’ve never had a friend for that long,” he said to Taeyong. “I think I’ve told the people on this ship more about myself than I have to anyone before.” 

“ _Everyone_ on the ship?”

“Some people.” Doyoung glanced at the others but brought his gaze back to Taeyong when he couldn’t find what or who he was looking for. Unable to restrain a smile, he instinctively tried to conceal it but Taeyong touching his arm made him freeze mid-action. 

“Don’t hide your smile. I like it.”

“You do?” Taeyong nodded as sincerely as he could. He hoped the message would get across in the action alone because god knows he was terrible with words. 

“Guys,” Mark said, summoning both their attention. “We’re done. What’s next?”

“I have med bay scan, since we’re here already,” Doyoung said, clearing his throat. Taeyong could see Mark’s face fall. “It’s fine Mark, what are the chances it happens again?” 

“It just made me nervous. Malfunctioning like that.”

“Malfunctioning…”

“Hm?” Taeyong looked at Johnny in hopes he’d elaborate.

“Do you remember what the guy on the phone said?” Johnny rushed through his words. “The emergency response thing was fucked with, what if the same thing happened in med bay the other day?”

“Hold on,” Doyoung interjected, “It didn’t occur to me till now but doesn’t that mean our emergency system was sabotaged since day one? Or at least from the day we found Yuta,” his eyes shifted to the drawn curtains.

“Have you guys had trouble with any other tasks?” Johnny asked. “More trouble than usual?”

“Yeah, come to think of it,” Mark started. He was interrupted by the lights flickering and then dimming at a steady rate.

“What the fuck,” Johnny whispered.

“Everyone stay close!” Doyoung warned. The room kept getting darker. “We should get back to the cafeteria,”

“Where are the others?” Johnny asked.

“I think they said they were going to security,” Mark replied.

“The doors!” Taeyong pointed. They were sliding closed on their own accord, slamming together before any of them could reach it. Taeyong banged on them with his fist, but there was no point. The room was so dark that he couldn’t see his crewmates right beside them. Everyone was dead silent. Suddenly, something like metal creaking could be heard, followed by a crash and a thud. 

“Is everyone here?” Doyoung asked. The rustles of the suits were taken as nods. Breaths were released as the lights slowly brightened again. Taeyong looked around, glad to see that those in his group were accounted for.

“Winwin!” Someone screeched from the other room. The four barely exchanged glances before sprinting to the security room. What they saw, they were unfortunately prepared for. A body on the floor, two crewmates arm in arm and stepping as far back as they could from the third. With his hand stained in that sickly red colour and a blade glistening with the same tint on the ground by him stood Winwin, eyes wide and mouth clamped shut. 

“I…” he croaked. “This wasn’t me,” his voice was almost inaudible. 

“Wasn’t you?” Jungwoo yelled. “Who the _hell_ else was it?” 

“I don’t know! One of you! I don’t know!”

“You know we went to electrical to fix the lighting,” Taeil spoke with tears brimming his eyes. 

“Your doors weren’t closed?” Taeyong asked. 

“They were,” Taeil said. “We went through the vents.”

“Vents?” Mark glanced at the metal bars on the corner of the floor. 

“They connect to some nearby rooms,” Jungwoo explained, refusing to take his eyes off Yellow.”

“How did you know that?” Mark asked. The look Jungwoo gave Winwin next sent shivers up Taeyong’s spine.

“ _He_ told us about them.”

“You guys, it wasn’t me. You have to believe me!”

“Your hand is covered in blood,” Johnny snapped.

“Someone touched my hand, okay! I felt it, I thought it was Jaehyun,” he choked upon seeing Blue on the ground, “I thought he was scared or something but he let go right after.”

“You don’t seriously expect us to believe you,” Said Taeyong.

“Why, _why_ would I kill someone and stand there with blood on my hands?”

“You probably thought you’d have more time with the lights off,” Johnny said. Mumbles of agreements came from the rest of the crewmates. Doyoung turned to Red and Orange,

“We agreed that no one would be left alone,” he said through his teeth.

“We didn’t know how long the doors would be shut. When he told us about the vents we figured it’d be faster if two of us went than four. We didn’t think…”

“Don’t,” Doyoung cut them off. “Why didn’t Winwin go if he’s the one who knew about the vents?”

“He said he was bad at electrical,” Jungwoo said sheepishly. 

“You _wanted_ to kill Jaehyun, didn’t you?” Doyoung said, accusingly. He seemed more hurt than the others. 

“Doyoung, why would I want that?” Winwin sounded exhausted.

“You were the only one around Haechan, too,” Mark said from where he was standing. He stepped closer before anyone could stop him and stood inches from Yellow. He’d been a flash, no one had been able to stop him from picking up the knife that was by Winwin’s feet and aiming it at his throat.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you like you killed him and the others?” Mark sneered. No one particularly made an effort to stop him aside from Jungwoo calling out his name once. Anger was boiling up in everyone, anger that had been overshadowed by fear this whole time.

“Because I _didn’t_.” Yellow’s voice was getting weaker and weaker. 

“Give it up,” Johnny said. “You can’t cry your way out of this one. The blood, the others conveniently being out of the room, the vents. You’re done.” Winwin opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He wasn’t crying and he didn’t look angry. Just incredibly tired. 

“My real name is Sicheng,” he finally spoke. “Dong Sicheng. My mother surprised me with this trip because I was really into space when I was a kid. I thought it was stupid at first, but she was convinced it’d make me a little happier.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Mark looked at the others. Taeyong knew what Winwin meant, he wondered if the others did too. He’d mentioned during a conversation that his mother had passed a few weeks ago. Some of the others looked away at the wall, at the floor. They knew.

“If you’re going to kill me, kill me.”

“We’re not going to-” Jungwoo was cut off.

“He just confessed,” Mark said. “Killing made the sick fuck happy.”

“That’s not what I said,” Winwin shook his head slowly.

“Fine. I don’t care why you did it.”

“We could lock him up in storage?”

“I don’t trust it, now that we know about the vents.”

“Would he be stupid enough to use them again?”

“We can’t risk having people around him until landing.”

“It seems like the safest option.”

“Guys,” Johnny directed everyone to the screen in the room, similar to the one in admin but displaying camera feed of the outside of the ship. It was used to check if the outer engines were intact.

“What are you suggesting?” Mark said, voice suddenly low. Winwin understood.

“Do it,” he said. “You don’t have the balls.” His voice was shaky, but he still taunted the others.

“No,” Doyoung stepped forward. “You’re insane! We are _not_ sending him out there.”

“Look what he did, Doyoung,” Mark gestured to Blue, but his eyes were on the doorway. 

“If we kill him we’re on his level. I know we’re angry, but this isn’t the answer. We’ll lock him up by the reactor or something. I’m sure there’s something of use in storage.”

“I’ll go look,” Taeyong offered.

“I’ll come with,” Johnny said, matching up with his steps. As they left the room, Taeyong saw Jungwoo hold Winwin’s wrists from the back so he was unable to do anything with his hands. The others were watching him with great intensity, aside from Doyoung who was kneeled by Blue, a hand shaking above his wound like he wished he had the power to make it disappear. What surprised Taeyong most was how little Winwin fought back. 

Once they were in storage, Taeyong stared into a box full of blue socks while Johnny shuffled through multiple others. Why there was an entire container of blue socks, he had no idea. Perhaps there was one for each of their colours. Taeyong pocketed a pair. 

“Will these do?” Johnny asked, holding up a roll of duct tape and a thick orange wire with a plug at the end, likely a backup for something in electrical.

“Probably.”

“So,” Johnny closed the boxes and stacked them back as they were, “Jaehyun.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong said through an exhale. “I can’t believe it.” Johnny looked at him as though he expected a follow up of some sort. “Yellow doesn’t really seem like the homicidal type, huh?”

“That’s the scariest part,” Black sighed. 

Yellow was tied beside the reactor, the wire tight around his wrist and ankles, then Taeyong wrapped extra tape around that for reassurance. Winwin glared at Taeyong hand on his own, holding them tightly together while the silver strip went around and around. No one wanted to stay with him, but the group agreed that someone would check in on him every hour or so. The boys finally felt comfortable enough to go back to their original roommates.

Taeyong let out a big sigh after pushing his bed back to its original spot. The room felt much more spacious now that the two other beds were gone. Mark still wasn’t speaking unless he had to, but he seemed to have loosened up when Taeyong left his and Johnny’s room. Doyoung was on his own bed, staring at nothing in particular. His finger was absentmindedly drawing swirls on the fabric of his blanket. 

“How do you feel?” Taeyong asked, snapping Doyoung back from wherever his mind was.

“I’m… alive.”

“The bare minimum.” Doyoung chucked,

“I’m ok, I guess. I just can’t wrap my mind around why Win- why Yellow would do such a thing.”

“There’s a lot we don’t know about him.”

“Did he tell you about his mom?”

“In passing,” Taeyong nodded. “Maybe he just couldn’t take it anymore. Sometimes people just snap.”

“I want to be angry but I pity him. To some degree. The way he was crying when Purple went missing…”

“He probably dialed up the emotion after seeming too… what’s the word? Nonchalant? Nonchalant the first time. You’re allowed to be angry, Doyoung. You liked Jaehyun, didn’t you?” He said the last words cautiously. Doyoung sat up straighter and scratched the skin by his brow.

“I liked him as a person, yeah. I guess I talked to him a lot compared to the others. Second only to you.”

Taeyong reached for his hand and cupped it in his own, patting the top. 

“Do you like me?” Taeyong smiled. “As a person,” he added. Doyoung looked at their hands together for the longest time, so long that Taeyong almost regretted asking. 

“I like you,” he said. 

\---

Taeyong didn’t wake up until 1 in the afternoon the next day. When he opened his eyes, Doyoung was still beside him, snoozing away. The previous night was a pleasant blur. Finally able to relax, they’d spent hours just talking. Taeyong got to know more about Doyoung and got to reveal more about himself. Everything he had wanted to say came out easily. He’d learned the most interesting facts in the world, including the fact that Doyoung loved to sing. He hated cucumbers. His favourite musicians were Girl’s Generation, which was simultaneously surprising and completely fitting.

It took him a good few minutes to get over Doyoung and onto the ground as discreetly as he could, scared that touching him in the slightest would disrupt his sleep. Taeyong left to grab something to eat, leaving Doyoung to rest. It reminded him of the first night on the ship when he couldn’t fall asleep. He hadn’t left the room by himself since then. Luckily everyone else was up and about now, there was no opportunity for that cold, eerie emptiness.

“Good morning,” Taeil said before he checked the time on his arm. His eyes widened, “I didn’t realize what time it was. Where have you been?”

“Sleeping. ‘Think I hit the REM stage for once.”

“Good, good,” Taeil nodded. “Doyoung still asleep?”

“Mhm.”

“How long were you guys awake, exactly,” an orange arm nudged Taeyong from the side. “Wink wink.”

“Jungwoo, you can’t just say ‘wink wink,’” Taeil rolled his eyes. Jungwoo lifted his visor and winked his left eye twice, ensuring that the gesture was more than noticeable.

“It wasn’t like that. We just talked.”

“Boring,” Jungwoo stuck his tongue out. He was relatively bouncy today, the tension from days before off his shoulders. Taeyong could see Johnny in the corner of the cafeteria, alone again with a half eaten sandwich and his signature pile of nuts on the table. He wondered where Mark was.

Doyoung was awake when he got back to the room, reading a book and humming quietly to himself. Taeyong offered him an apple he’d brought back, but Doyoung claimed he wasn’t hungry. 

“How’s Yellow?”

“Still there,” Taeyong bit into the apple, “According to Orange. I’m supposed to check on him next since I woke up so late. Then you,” he flopped onto the bed.

“You have your own bed, don’t you?” Doyoung huffed.

“Do you want me to move?” Taeyong pouted, running his hands through his hair. Doyoung giggled and shook his head, going back to his reading. Things felt so peaceful now that it was peculiar. Taeyong spent the next however many minutes invested in a game of brick breaker, lying in Doyoung’s lap as one hand ran through his hair in between the turning of pages.

“Are we just not doing tasks today?” Doyoung asked, finally setting his book face down.

“Does it matter anymore?”

“This ship is going to shit. They should never let anyone on it again.”

“What with all the murder spots.”

“Right,” Doyoung nodded seriously. “Speaking of, shouldn’t we do something about the boys? Their parents are gonna be waiting down there with no idea of what happened.”

“You know more than me, Dr. Kim.”

“It’s just… They shouldn’t be left in those ugly suits, covered in all that blood. They deserve better.” He could barely get through the words. Taeyong sat up and turned to give him a kiss on the cheek, cupping his face and stroking his thumb across the softness of his skin. 

“I’m gonna go check on Yellow and then we can go to med bay,” he said in a gentle voice.  
Winwin looked thin and shriveled. In a few hours he looked like he’d gone through months of Malnutrition. Taeyong glanced at the reactor. It was warm and humming its familiar tune, but looked secure enough. 

“Did anyone feed you?”

“Granola bar,” Yellow rasped out. “They hate me.” Taeyong fished a pouch of water out from his pocket, holding it up to Winwin’s mouth until he finished taking a long drink. 

“Is the reactor bothering you?”

“Kept me warm.”

“Then you’ve been crying.” Winwin shook his head but Taeyong tilted his head up by the chin to examine his face better in the light. “Either that or you snuck weed up here.”

“Do you have any?” Winwin smirked. The dark circles under his eyes made him look ghastly. “As my final meal.”

“Weed is _not_ a meal, and you’re not going to die.”

“I’m not going to prison.”

“Winwin…”

“You know that, though, don’t you?” He jerked his face out from Taeyong’s grasp. “You know I’m innocent.”

*

“Are you okay?” Doyoung leapt up from his bed. He had put his suit on in the time Taeyong was gone. “Jesus, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I… I’m fine. Winwin was spouting some bull, trying to mess with my head.”

“What did he say?” Doyoung placed a gloved hand on his back, drawing him closer.

“Kept saying he was innocent. I know it doesn’t make sense, but-”

“He’s just trying to screw with you.”

“Doyoung,” Taeyong looked him in the eyes, “I think we need to check the bodies.”

Taeyong walked so fast to the med bay that Doyoung had to jog in order to keep up. He kept asking Taeyong what they were looking for, but he didn’t know himself. The curtained area had gotten bigger, each person moved to their own bed. Half the bay was closed off now, but there was a collective hope that none of the others would need it before landing. 

“Did you see anything when you examined Yuta?” Taeyong asked desperately.

“No, but I wouldn’t call it an examination.”

“Check again,” Taeyong commanded. Doyoung’s eyes widened and his lips parted ever so slightly before he began unzipping the white suit. 

“Faster.”

“It’s not that easy!” 

Taeyong could see Doyoung mouthing something to himself as he flipped White over. It wasn’t as easy as it’d be if they were cadavers. Those people were strangers. They had no connection, they were just an assignment. 

“Look beneath their shirts too.”

“ _Taeyong,_ ” Doyoung pleaded. 

“I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important!” Taeyong unzipped Blue and lifted his shirt, eyes scanning his back. He turned him gently and did the same with his chest. His skin was so sickly pale but there was no time to mourn. A quick look over his arms and legs was enough to determine there was nothing outwardly wrong. Doyoung was looking over White’s back, still muttering whatever it was that was helping him get through the job. Taeyong carefully pulled Blue’s shirt over his body again but took the suit completely off, throwing it onto the next closest unoccupied bed. The tear of his clothes was less obvious on the black fabric of his t-shirt and the dried blood was less visible too. It would have to do for now. Doyoung had just begun peeling off the white suit so Taeyong took it upon himself to examine Purple. It didn’t take long to find what he was so scared of finding.

“Here,” he called Doyoung. “What is this?” Doyoung leaned in closer to the boy’s neck, the back of it slightly redder than the rest of his face. “Why would that be there?”

“It looks like a rash or an allergic reaction… I’m not entirely sure but it’d have to have been just acting up or fading when he was attacked.”

“ _Fuck_.”

“Taeyong?”

“I have to find Pink.”

Green ran behind Lime once again, their boots squeaking on the over-polished parts of the metal floor. 

“Where’s Mark?” Taeyong spat at Johnny. He was in admin uploading data when Taeyong had grabbed him by the shoulders, almost pulling him backwards out of his chair. Johnny smirked, pulling his suit back down where it had stuck up from being grasped. 

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’re his roommate, now where the fuck is he?” 

“There's two in shields and one in weapons,” Doyoung reported from the dots on the screen. 

“ _Weapons_ ,” Taeyong glared at Johnny, flames arising in his eyes. He stormed out without another word, leaving a very confused Doyoung to follow. Johnny followed too, steps behind.

“No,” Taeyong whispered, running to the Pink clad body squirming on the ground. “Doyoung!”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Doyoung rushed beside him. “He’s still alive, we need to put pressure on it. I need a towel,” he looked at Johnny, who was leaning calmly against the doorway. “Johnny!”

“Alright,” Johnny put his hands up and disappeared into the hallway. Taeyong kept calling Mark’s name over and over again but the boy could only groan in response. 

“Mark? Mark, can you blink for me? I just have one question,” Taeyong pleaded. “Once for yes, twice for no.” Mark’s eyelids opened with great effort and fell back down slowly. Taeyong took a deep breath in, “Did Haechan have an allergy to nuts?” Mark’s eyes closed again and stayed that way long enough to send fear rushing through Taeyong’s heart. They opened again slowly, but as soon as Taeyong saw the whites he had the information he needed to know.

“How did he get out of the ties?” Doyoung asked. He had lifted his visor up and sweat was visibly beginning to drip from his forehead.

“What?”

“Winwin?”

Taeyong’s eyes darted to Johnny, who had returned with a small towel from one of the bathrooms. He smiled and tossed it to Doyoung without looking at him. Taeyong shivered. That look he had seen in Johnny’s eyes the other night was no mistake.

“I have to get to the reactor,” Taeyong headed for the door.

“Take the vents, it could be faster,” Doyoung said, placing the cloth over Mark’s wound and pressing down, eliciting a pained whine. 

“No, it’ll only lead to navigation from here,” Taeyong shook his head. Johnny turned his nose up and grinned a spine-chilling grin. He followed the rushing Taeyong leisurely, like he had all the time in the world. Taeyong ran to the other end of the ship, whizzing past Red and Orange on the way there. They saw Johnny behind him and followed too, curious as to what the hell was going on.

“Jesus,” Taeil gasped when they had neared the reactor. He held a hand over his mouth to block the stench.

“Don’t go any closer!” Jungwoo warned. “Back up, it’s not safe. I have to close the doors from admin.” He ran off after another warning to the others to keep their distance. Black was furthest back, but he couldn’t help stepping closer every few seconds. Red and Lime had put their helmets on, but Black lifted his to get a better look. He was too interested in the sight. He was… impressed.

“How did he get his hands loose?” Red croaked, looking at it and away and at it again.

The reactor had been shattered. It was over half empty and glowing liquid was seeping onto the floor. Right beside it, Yellow lay with hands untied and feet still bound, half his body soaked and terribly burned. From one of his ears to the middle of his thigh, it looked like he’d been ripped to shreds and glued back together. The liquid hit a clean part of his leg and sizzled, causing the three to step back.

“He must’ve kept hitting it with the plug until it broke,” Taeyong said. He couldn’t get himself to look away. “He said he refused to go to prison.” He turned to Johnny, who had given up his act completely. “Taeil, help me hold him.”

“What?”

“He did this.”

“Taeyong?”

“Just listen to me!” Taeyong shouted. Taeil complied, holding one of Johnny’s arms and Taeyong holding the other. They watched as the metal doors slid shut, locking Yellow’s decaying body and the liquid behind it. They waited for Jungwoo to come back before going back to Pink and Green. Upon seeing Pink in Green’s lap, Red almost let go of Black, but Taeyong kept him in position.

“You know, Black said, “there’s nowhere for me to run.”

“Don’t let go,” Taeyong said sternly. Red tightened his grip. “Yellow is dead.”

“What?” 

“It looks like he did it himself,” Orange started.

“No,” Taeyong said in a low voice. “This was _him_. It was him all along.” Everyone looked at Black. 

“ _Why_?” Green cried. Black shrugged and Orange lunged at him, but Red talked him down.

“All of them?” Green was on the verge of tears. Black looked at Taeyong with a brow raised. When he did nothing, he nodded.

“You don’t even look regretful you… you…” Red couldn’t find the words. 

“Well, I can’t say that I am.”

“Don’t you feel anything?” Green couldn’t look at him when he spoke anymore.

“I thought I did,” Black looked at Taeyong again but he refused to make eye contact. 

“You let Winwin take the blame for this.”

“Now you’re just stating the obvious, Woo.”

“Don’t you dare call me that. You let him take the blame and then you killed him.”

“Ah, ah. That wasn’t me. Guy wanted to be with his mother.”

“What do we do with him?” Green asked. “I can’t listen to him speak anymore.”

“Throw him in the reactor room, I’ll open the doors again.”

“Boys, boys!” There’s no need for that, I’m perfectly content with going to jail. Besides, where on this ship could I possibly go that you wouldn’t find me?”

“How much of an attention whore can you be-”

“That’s all you wanted, wasn’t it?” Taeyong sneered. “To be part of a story?”

“That’s part of it,” Black admitted. Red brought his knee up as high as he could and slammed his boot down on Black’s foot, making him cry out in surprise. He hissed, “That’s dirty, Red.”

“We’ll tie him to the cafeteria tables or something. Something that’s nailed down. Every part of his body, if we need to.”

All the lights stayed on that night. The remaining five stayed in the same room. Green was in charge of nursing Pink as best as he could with their given resources. Red had been tinkering with one of the control pads after finding that the emergency number had stopped working again.

“How did he manage to do all this?” he grumbled while rearranging two thin wires for the fifth time. 

“He’s smart, I guess.”

“Bastard.”

“I can’t believe he killed three people like it was nothing.”

“But why would he stab Mark?”

“I think he overheard me talking to Winwin,” Taeyong inhaled sharply. “He realized if we found a rash Mark could confirm that Haechan had a nut allergy." 

“So he might have been successful if he hadn’t been eating those nuts?” Orange scoffed.

“His nausea helped us catch him, of all things.”

“Hell of a psych eval, sending us up here with a psychopath,” Red slumped in his seat. 

“I-” Green began before he was cut off by the loudest blare they’d heard yet and red lights flashing on and off. The same was happening in the cafeteria and everywhere else by the looks of it.

“What is that?” Green yelled, covering Pink’s ears with his hands. The boy’s eyes were wide open but he was still too weak to talk. 

“It sounds like a task malfunctioning again,” Taeyong yelled back. He had to enunciate the words a second time because the others couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“No, no, it’s different,” Orange noticed. Everyone had the same thought at the same time and ran off, Green gently bringing Pink’s hands to his own ears before leaving so he’d have some type of protection from the obnoxious noise. Three of them waited outside admin while Orange looked over the screens.  
“Guys.” The colour had drained from his face. 

“Black isn’t where we left him?” Green questioned. Orange shook his head.

“There’s only nine dots inside the ship.” The group practically sprinted to security and turned on every possible monitor, sifting through each until one displayed what they had feared they’d see. Floating outside the ship’s emergency exit was a little black figure, almost invisible in the darkness of the atmosphere. The boys ran one after the other, almost tripping on themselves and each other in the hurry. The exit they’d seen was on the other end of the ship by navigation. Taeyong panted with every heavy step, feeling like his legs couldn’t carry him fast enough. 

The gate was left open. They knew they couldn’t fall out but they still moved cautiously toward it. Black had to have left a while ago in order to float out as far as he had. If he knew hour to tamper with the machines he knew how to delay the alarm. Even if they had worn the proper suits for leaving the vessel and secured themselves, it’d be of no use. The rope only went so far and Black would be well outside of its limits by the time they were set. 

“Johnny!” Taeyong called out in despair. He knew better than to feel anything but hatred for this man, but he was watching him disappear into nothing. 

“Remember what I said, Yongie?” Johnny’s face came in patches through the microphone. Taeyong looked around to see if anyone else heard. Everyone was still frozen in disbelief.  
“There’s no place on the ship for me to hide.” Taeyong clicked Johnny’s colour on his controls.

“Why?” 

“I know you’ll tell them about me, Yongie. You owe me.” Taeyong didn’t say anything. “Blue? I'm not that sloppy. And I know Yellow didn’t take his own life. So you owe me.”

“You never cared about me.”

“I thought so too, at first. I guess even _I’m_ capable of an emotion or two.”

“I won’t do anything for you,” Taeyong said through gritted teeth.

“You - will!” The words were cutting out more often. “I - know you - will. We’re not that - different. Tell them about me - Yongie.”

“Johnny? Johnny, answer me.” Taeyong felt one of his crewmates tap him on the shoulder. 

“Taeyong? Can you hear us?” He set his mic to normal. “He’s gone. The oxygen will only last so long before he-”

“I know how it'll end,” Taeyong’s mouth was uncomfortably dry. He returned to their room, leaving the others to draw the gate closed. 

\---

The hours leading up to landing were the longest ones of Taeyong’s life. Everyone had abandoned their tasks, it was no longer worth it. Few words were exchanged between any of them. What horrible things they’d seen in the last few days they’d never forget, no matter how hard they tried. The same pressure that had been so painful during takeoff was a glorious reminder to Taeyong that he was still alive. That he could still feel.

He walked down the tower of stairs hand in hand with Doyoung. His legs were shaking terribly and there were multiple occasions that he would’ve fallen if Doyoung didn’t catch him. When his feet finally hit ground, Taeyong felt like he could breathe again. In a way, that was true. The cold, fresh air smell of fuel hit him but he graciously let it fill his lungs, taking in as much as he could.”

“Taeyong!” 

His friends ran to him, eyes sparkling. Taeyong noticed for the first time the families gathered around, all concerned as to why the ship had returned so early. To Taeyong it had felt like months, but to everyone else it was, what? Less than a week?

“Why’re you guys back early, dude?” Ten threw his arms around him. Taeyong pulled his best friend in close and breathed him in, the familiar scent keeping him grounded.

“It’s a long fucking story.”

“Who’s your friend?” Kun asked, nudging his shoulder.

“Right. This is Doyoung.” His friends shook hands with Doyoung and he greeted them all with the best smile he could muster in the moment.

“You must be special,” Ten said to him. “When Taeyong wants something, he doesn’t let anything get in his way.”

“Or anyone,” Xiaojun laughed. “Not that you’d have much competition up there.” Doyoung smiled and squeezed Taeyong’s hand. 

“Come on,” Hendery walked backwards, “We’re paying for parking. You can tell us what happened in the car.” Doyoung began to let go, which Xiaojun noticed.

“Got a ride, Doyoung?” 

“No.”

“Then you come too! I knew I bought that seven-seater for a reason.” 

“I like your friends,” Doyoung whispered.

“As people?” Taeyong smiled weakly.

“As people,” he laughed.

Walking away from the landing site, Taeyong kept turning back to the group of people that had gathered at the bottom of the stairs, trying to look up, wondering why the person they were there for hadn’t come out yet. It would be a mess in a few days, maybe even tomorrow. The police would come to the remaining crewmates for statements. ESEM Corp might even shut down for good whether the other two groups were successful or not. Taeyong stopped looking back. There was no point. He couldn’t bring back what had been taken away. The chatter of his friends and Doyoung sounded like white noise among all his thoughts. When people came to interview him, what would he say? He would tell them about him. The things he did and even the things he didn't. He owed him.


End file.
